Traveling-bag fastener.



No. 683,557. Patented Oct. I, 190i. "B. F. DU BOIS.

TRAVELING BAG FASTENER.

(Application filed-Tune 1, 1901.)

(No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

BENJAMIN F. DU BOIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRAVELING-BAG FASTEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,557, dated October1, 1901.

Application filed June 1, 1901. Serial No. 62,721. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. DU BoIs,

a citizen of the United States, residing at No. 705 East One Hundred andThirty-fifth street, New York city, in the county of NewYork and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTraveling- Bag Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame. 7 This invention relates to an improvement in traveling-bagfasteners and is embodied in the construction and arrangement of partspresently to be described and afterward defined in the claim.

Theinvention, more generally speaking, relates to the improvement ofthattype of fastener shown and described in United States Letters Patent No.658,945, issued to myself on the 2d of October, 1900.

The device shown in the above-mentioned patent comprehends a locking-barmovable toward and from the top of the frame, neces sitating suitablesprings which serve as carriers for the bar and the surrounding case.

My present invention is designed to simplify the construction andprovide ameans for locking the traveling-bag, which may be so arrangedas to occupy but little space and which in many respects will be simplerand more durable in structure.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a frame, showing the invention appliedthereto, the bag being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsection showing parts in elevation, the section being taken through thelocking-bar and clip members of the frame at a point directly above thelocking-bar; and Fig. 3 is a detail section of the look.

In the drawings the bag is shown in dotted lines, Fig. l, the same beingattached to the frame-pieces B and B. These frame-pieces are of theconventional style or type, the member B fitting within the member Bwhen the same are closed together, the two members being united bysuitable pivots at their lower ends. In this type of frame angle-iron islargely and usually employed, the outer bar.

member carrying the handle and the locking device.

0 designates a locking-bar of narrow elongated formation, having itsends reduced, as at c, and passing through fixed eyes D on the verticalwalls of the member B. The length of the locking-bar is such as toextend substantially from end to end of or entirely across theframe-piece, and its exposed face is provided with a series of hooks 0,having inclined or slanting outer ends. The distance between the reducedportions of the lockingbar is less than the distance between thesupporting-eyes, so that the bar is permitted a longitudinal movement ina well-known manner, and to normally carry the bar to the left aspiralspring E is sleeved around the extension or reduced portion, the samebeing held against a pin or collar 6, fixed on the extreme end of thereduced portion of the The tendency of this spring is to expand andcarry the bar to the left, while by applying suitable pressure to thebar in'the opposite direction the bar may be moved to the right. Asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, a convenient means for permitting theapplication of pressure to the bar is by extending from the bar an armF, which is projected through a slot b in the frame-piece, the arm beingprovided with a suitable knob at its exposed end. Rigid on theframe-piece is a fixed knob 1), serving as a rest or fulcrum againstwhich the thumb or finger may be placed when the locking-bar is to bedrawn back.

Fixedly secured on the member B of the frame are two clips G and G, thesame being rigidly attached in any convenient manner thereby prevent themovement of the locking-bar. To release the pawl, a cam H is employed,which may be conveniently operated bya key or other convenient devicefrom the outside.

In operation it will be observed that by pressing the frame-piece Btoward the framepiece 13 the hooks or their inclined portions will beforced into the openings in the clips, and this pressure will tend toforce the locking-bar to the right until the hooks enter the aperturesin the clipsand pass beyond the clips, the spring immediately drawingthe hooks under the walls of the clips, thus securely fastening theframe together. In this position they may be looked, as will be obvious.It is to be noticed that in effecting the fastening a single member isemployed-- namely, the locking-barand that the bar is extendedsubstantially the length of the frame, so that the bag-frame is heldclosed or coupled practically throughout its length, thus avoiding theobjections to that type of bag-frame which is locked at the center onlyand requires independen t fasteners at the different ends.

I do not wish to be understood as claiming, broadly, a fastenerconsisting of a sliding bar spring pressed irrespective of itsassociations; but I believe that I am the first to ever invent a deviceor frame for a traveling-bag which would permit the complete closure ofthe bag and lock the same against opening at the center, as well as atthe ends, by a sliding bar located on the frame. It is therefore to beunderstood that various changes which would constitute equivalents canbe made and substituted for those shown and described.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is-

In a traveling-bag the combination with the frames B, B, pivoted attheir opposite lower ends and adapted to fit the one Within the otherwhen in closed position; separated clips on the interior of one oftheframes; a locking-bar on the interior of the opposite frame havingportions adapted to engage the clips; guides for the locking-bar; acoiled spring wound upon the locking-bar adjacent one end thereof andarranged to abut at one end against one of the guides; an abutment atthe end of the locking-bar for the opposite end of the spring, saidspring tending normally to force the bar in one direction; and anoperating finger-piece extending to the outside through one of theframes for forcing the bar in an opposite direction against the tensionof the spring, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. DU BO'IS.

Witnesses:

PIERRE A. GEIS, MARIA DU B015.

